By insecurity, 1 million dead Latin.

K be a heavy legacy installation that order and discipline is bad is evil, that laws can be twisted and that no criminal offense is so serious. Also that crime does not always pay. The K culture have been incorporated into the Argentina public that curbing crime is questionable, there are criminals because they did not ‘spill’ and not as criminals if borne by the Front for Victory. That is the origin of the growth of insecurity. Then, of course, the absence of political reintegration of those who have committed crimes and not to do it again. And training and suitability of the police force, plus more speed and transparency in the judiciary. In Wharton work of the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP) on how much it costs to American society crime was analyzed:

The most serious is that violence has claimed the lives of 1 million Latin Americans in the last decade. In fact, the murder rate is more than 10 victims per 100,000 population that the World Health Organization considers the limit above which the murder becomes an epidemic.

PENNSYLVANIA (Wharton Universia). The United Nations Program for Development (UNDP) recently released a report on the insecurity in Latin America containing new and interesting figures on the subject. The study, entitled ‘Citizen Security with a Human Face: Diagnosis and Proposals for Latin America’, has posted the economic cost of violence in the 18 countries analyzed. And the numbers offered in this connection are very striking. Ensures that the crime caused the loss of 10.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in Honduras, 8.7% in Paraguay and of 3.3% in Chile. In the latter case, that percentage translates to a cost in absolute terms from U.S. $ 6,520 million (4,810 million euros).

“It’s the great Latin American paradox has been an exceptional economic growth that has eliminated poverty, but also increased violence and insecurity,” said UNDP responsible for Latin America and deputy secretary general of the UN, Heraldo Munoz public presentation of the study in mid-November in Santiago de Chile. “It’s a low-quality economic growth, based on consumption. Access to social mobility continues to be very low and generates a group of people who want their cake, “he argued.

From a more practical and direct view of the consequences of crime are, according to the study, 1 in 3 people has changed the place where you shop or where it goes to play. The report shows that, of those surveyed citizens who have been victims of crime, up to 65% have stopped going out at night. Even, 13% reported having felt the need to change their residence for fear of being a victim of crime. The most serious is that violence has claimed the lives of 1 million Latin Americans in the last decade. In fact, the murder rate is more than 10 victims per 100,000 population that the World Health Organization considers the limit above which the murder becomes an epidemic.

How it affects

Julio Guzman, Research Professor at the School of Government at the University Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile, the data “reflect the loss of resources involved in crime and violence.” He adds, “These are issues that not only directly affect inequality through subtracting the poorest opportunities, who are always over-represented in the issue of crime, but also generate a waste of resources and loss of efficiency economies as a whole. ”

“All kinds of violence carries high economic and social costs that slows development,” said Carlos Manuel Rodríguez Arechavaleta, professor and researcher at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City At the micro level, he says, “reduces the formation of human capital that leads some individuals to develop skills criminals, rather than educational, also deters some people to study at night for fear of violent crime.” At the macroeconomic level, he adds, “reducing foreign and domestic investment, it can also reduce national saving if people have less confidence in the future growth prospects of the country.”

Furthermore, Elcontrol violence requires the use of considerable resources, including expenditures on police, judicial and social service provision, which could be used for other purposes. The faculty of the Universidad Iberoamericana notes that “the costs of violence are generally divided into direct costs, which are a direct result of violence or attempts to prevent it, and indirect costs, including pain and suffering, loss productivity, and quality of life. ”

Rodríguez Arechavaletaexplica direct costs include the value of goods and services used in the prevention of violence, treating their victims and the capture and punishment of the perpetrators. This implies a cost to the police and judicial system: prison and detention costs and other costs of prosecution and court costs, costs of medical treatment: emergency room care, hospitalization, care in clinics or consultations medical, dental care and the cost of treatments for sexually transmitted diseases as well as psychological therapy costs for victims and social services costs related to crime: job training programs for offenders, officials inmates who are on probation education programs on domestic violence, etc..

Possible Solutions

After locating the problem, UNDP provides some ideas to try to fix it. In his above-mentioned report on citizen security in Latin America, the agency proposes a 10-point plan. Among them, the most prominent are trying to align national efforts to reduce crime and violence, including a national agreement for public safety as state policy; generate public policies to protect those most affected by the violence and crime, prevent crime and violence promoting an inclusive, equitable and quality growth, reduce impunity by strengthening the institutions of security and justice with commitment to human rights, and promote the active participation of society, especially local communities, construction of public safety.

In any case, UNDP ensures that the state’s role is irreplaceable. “A few years ago, the prevailing doctrine was that of the minimal state,” Munoz said. “Now we have to go for a not bigger, but stronger state. Fortunately, many governments are already aware of that. ”

María Isabel Retamal, Academic School of Government at the University Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile, create queel first step is for countries to solve the problem of violence “to recognize that is a topic for which there are no ‘silver bullets ‘shortcuts or short term. ” The second step is to “avoid populist grandstanding but little proven effectiveness measures. Third, build public policy on the issue based on evidence of what works best. Fourth, treat it as a country theme, no particular political colors “lists.

In the same vein, Rodriguez Arechavaleta calls for greater investment in public, universal and free quality education, investment in preventive and specialized, “especially in peripheral regions of high concentration of health indicators of violence and the development of educational and cultural projects integrative and the development of media to publicize the negative effects of violence “campaigns.

Will governments act?

Once the experts have cited the steps to solve the problem, the big question is whether governments are taking these or other appropriate measures to eliminate the problem of insecurity.

“In matters of public policy, things are not black or white,” warns Guzmán before trying to answer this question. “Indeed there are attempts in several Latin American countries to make serious progress in this area. A good example is Chile, which has pursued policies in different areas of control and prevention, in which there have been more specialized and comprehensive programs for minors. ” In this country, 1 in 2 inmates in prisons left home before age 15. He adds that “things also have been made in the issue of reintegration after penitentiary, for example, enhance non-custodial measures.”

Retamal denounces politicians at election time “offer expensive measures and proven way according to the evidence are not effective.” He says it’s deals ‘hard crime’ and more police without further definitions. “The mystery is that many of the people who know these policies and proponents also know the [few] results have been obtained with them, however, electoral deals are maintained.” He explains that this is because many times the public perception is misinformed and “effective policies in this area are not necessarily consistent with common sense.”

Rodríguez Arechavaleta is categorical when evaluating policies that different Latin American national governments are doing: “Do not think you are taking appropriate action. Apparently, it is not a priority in some countries in the region where the problem has reached alarming rates, for example, Central America. “